1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a glide attachable to a leg of a piece of furniture and, in particular, to a glide assembly mountable about an existing foot attached to the free end of a leg of a chair or desk.
2. Description of the Related Art
The free end of each leg of a piece of furniture often includes a cap, foot, glide, or the like. In many institutionalized settings, such as in a school or other educational facility, the feet disposed on the corresponding free ends of the respective legs of a piece of furniture are designed to allow easy sliding of a chair or desk, for instance, upon a surface such as a floor. More specifically, the feet are designed to increase the amount of surface-area contact, but reduce the amount of frictional contact, between the legs and the floor.
One type of foot commonly employed in the related art generally includes an attachment portion and a gliding portion. The attachment portion is adapted to be attached to the free end of a leg, and the gliding portion is pivotally connected to an end of the attachment portion located opposite the leg. The gliding portion defines a relatively broad, flat bottom surface adapted to be in operative contact with the floor. This type of foot is made typically of a hard, durable material, such as metal, nylon, or steel. The bottom surface of a conventional foot is sometimes made of metal or plastic.
However, this type of foot suffers from many disadvantages. The bottom surface of the conventional foot is relatively large, which increases the amount of frictional contact with the floor and causes scraping, scratching, or marring of relatively more surface area of the floor. And, use of this type of foot generally facilitates a sliding motion across the floor and, therefore, increases incidence of floor scraping, scratching, or marring and attendant noise. This relatively greater amount of scraping, scratching, or marring, in turn, increases not only costs of stripping, waxing, and buffing the floor and other labor and material costs associated with maintaining the floor, but also the number of airborne particulates and, thus, pollutants in the room in which the corresponding chair or desk is used. Furthermore, the bottom surface defines relatively more area upon which dirt, dust, sand, and other debris can gather, thus making this type of foot relatively more difficult, time-consuming, and, thus, expensive to clean and keep sanitary. This debris can even be imbedded into the bottom surface of the foot such that the texture of the bottom surface becomes like sandpaper and, thus, scrapes, scratches, or mars the floor even more than it does otherwise.
In addition, when the chair or desk is moved along the floor, the frictional contact between this type of foot and the floor produces a perceptible, often irritating, noise. In a classroom setting, especially in an elementary school where there are a substantial number of relatively young students moving or “scooting” their respective chairs and desks at any one time, this noise can be multiplied to a very significant level. Moreover, the floor upon which the corresponding chair or desk is supported can be mopped weekly, even daily. In such an especially wet environment, this type of foot—being made mostly or even entirely of metal—can rust and, hence, have a relatively shorter life, produce rust marks on the floor when the chair or desk is moved along the floor, and cause the legs of the chair or desk to be aesthetically displeasing.
Because of these disadvantages, it is often desired to replace the existing feet. As it turns out, however, the existing feet, which are initially employed with the respective chairs or desks, are not designed to be removed, so it is often a relatively difficult and, thus, expensive chore to remove all of them. Furthermore, the legs of the corresponding chairs or desks on which the respective conventional feet are used are often disposed at different angles relative to the floor. A replacement foot of the type known in the related art has suffered from the disadvantage that it is not adapted to interface between the free end of the corresponding leg and the floor at an appropriate angle. This has resulted in uneven contact of the foot with the floor and, thus, increased scraping, scratching, or marring of the floor by the foot and generation of more noise by the chair or desk as it is moved relative to the floor. A replacement foot of the type known in the related art has also suffered from the disadvantage that the portion of it that operatively contacts the floor inevitably becomes worn to the point that the replacement foot is no longer adequately effective for its intended purpose. Yet, this portion is not replaceable by itself such that even though the remainder of the replacement foot may have much more useful life, the entire replacement foot must be replaced. Of course, this results in wasted material and, thus, money. A replacement foot of the type known in the related art has also suffered from the disadvantage that it has hinges, locking prongs, and/or seams exposed that would allow dirt, dust, sand, and other debris to collect therein. These difficulties have presented a barrier to use of improved caps, feet, glides, and such.
Thus, there is a need in the related art for a relatively efficient way of replacing an existing foot from a leg of a chair or desk with a glide. More specifically, there is a need in the related art for a relatively easy and, thus, inexpensive way of mounting an aftermarket replacement glide to the free end of a leg of a chair or desk. In particular, there is a need in the related art for a glide that is adapted to accommodate an existing foot at an appropriate angle relative to a floor while reducing incidence of floor scraping, scratching, or marring and generation of noise. In addition, there is a need in the related art for such a glide that does not rust or otherwise mark the floor. Moreover, there is a need in the related art for such a glide the portion of which operatively contacts the floor is replaceable by itself (without replacing the entire glide). There is a need in the related art for such a glide that does not have hinges, locking prongs, and/or seams exposed that would allow dirt, dust, sand, and other debris to collect therein as well.